NHL hockey lines will factor in San Jose fighting for the top spot in the west while the Ducks are fighting for their NHL wagering playoff lives. The San Jose Sharks have not carried a lot of value against the NHL hockey lines despite being tied for first place in the western conference with the Detroit Red Wings.

San Jose had an overall NHL wagering record of 42-11-6-4 straight up and just 27-36 against the NHL hockey lines.

The reason that San Jose has not operated in the black against the NHL hockey lines is that they got off to such a hot start when the season started that they attracted too much public attention, which forced the odds makers to jack the NHL hockey lines up on the Sharks way beyond what was reasonable.

When San Jose would lose a game, they would clobber anyone with a ticket on them because the NHL hockey lines were set so high. Two great examples of this would be from March 5 when they lost to Minnesota as a -$247 favorite and from March 3 when they lost as a -$245 chalk against Dallas.

Those two losses against the NHL hockey lines would take a long time for a gambler to recover from. The Anaheim Ducks had an overall NHL wagering record of 31-29-4-2 straight up and 30-35 against the NHL hockey lines.

Anaheim hit a bad stretch against the NHL hockey lines from February 4 through March 6 as they got the cash in just 3 out of 11 games.

The Ducks were part of a large logjam in the western conference standings ranking from 6th through 12th place that included Nashville, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Minnesota, and St. Louis and ranged in points from 70 to 66.

Such a tight race of 7 teams fighting for 3 playoffs spots promised for a lot of excitement against the NHL hockey lines for the final month of the season.